


Chasm

by vega_voices



Series: Come Rain, Come Shine [29]
Category: Murphy Brown (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Godparents, Idiots in Love, frank fontana is a jealous idiot and part of the reason murphy didn't get married, it's too bad i love him, parenting, relationship jealousy, when best friends almost blow it, when best friends do stupid things, when best friends fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 12:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18964882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vega_voices/pseuds/vega_voices
Summary: They sat in silence on the leather couch in Frank’s apartment, dinner in takeout containers cooling on the coffee table. Neither of them had much of an appetite.





	Chasm

**Title:** Chasm  
**Author:** vegawriters  
**Fandom:** Murphy Brown  
**Series:** Come Rain, Come Shine  
**Pairing:** Murphy Brown/Peter Hunt  
**Rating:** Teen  
**Timeframe:** Between seasons 6 and 7, takes place directly after [It Wasn’t April Fools](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15985106)  
**A/N:** The more I write these two, the more I feel the need to explore who Frank is as a man and why he just keeps tripping up Murphy’s desire to be happy.  
Disclaimer: So ... we aren't getting a season 12. Which means WB owns everything. I make nothing. But thank you to Diane for creating something so very special.

 **Summary:** _They sat in silence on the leather couch in Frank’s apartment, dinner in takeout containers cooling on the coffee table. Neither of them had much of an appetite._

 

She was still pissed. The weekend hadn’t dulled her anger, nor had today in the office when he’d tried to come in and apologize and she’d almost thrown her laptop at his head. She’d skipped lunch with him in favor of a long lunch with Peter at his apartment. Sandwiches and flavored water had turned into him taking her hand and leading her into the bedroom.

“I’m going to talk to him tonight,” she said while tucking herself back into her blouse and trying to make sense of her hair. “I told him we could have dinner. I’m still 50/50 on whether I poison him or not.”

Right now, Peter was back at her place with Avery. He’d picked him up from preschool and promised to bring back an extra McDonald’s toy for her. It was a small consolation for a conversation that she wasn’t sure would end her friendship with Frank. This time, really, he might have gone too far.

They sat in silence on the leather couch in Frank’s apartment, dinner in takeout containers cooling on the coffee table. Neither of them had much of an appetite. Murphy stared past her best friend at the Humboldt on display, the photo of Avery, the photo of his family, the photo of the two of them at an FYI softball game right before she’d fallen against the door of her office with Jake and ended up pregnant. Why did it feel that was truly the last time she’d felt connected to him? That day when he’d pretended to be her lover in front of Jake, when he’d adopted this attitude she still didn’t understand.

Why the hell couldn’t he let her find happiness with someone?

“You tried to get Peter arrested,” she finally said, shocking even herself at the vitriol in her voice. She stared at the congealing pasta in front of her, trying to put together the words for emotions that were still so big she wasn’t sure how to process them. Once, she’d have opened a bottle of jack and cried until it all made sense. “You called in a threat made against the president.” Murphy moved her gaze back to Frank. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

“Murph …”

The nickname grated on her last nerve. He didn’t deserve it. Not today.

“What the hell is your problem, Frank?” She got up and walked over to the award shelf, staring at the glass, hating his success and how it fed his damn anxiety. “You couldn’t stand Jerry, despite the fact that he was there for me during my pregnancy. He was actually there. You actively sabotage Peter, who is a good man. He … he truly cares about me and he loves Avery.” She turned to stare at him. “The only one of my recent boyfriends you’ve been okay with was Jake and he’s the one who actually hurt me. He’s the one who …” she rolled her eyes at how much it still hurt that Jake didn’t give a damn about Avery except on his terms. Jerry’s disappearance was so much easier to manage. She knew how he felt about kids and commitment. “So, what gives?”

Frank’s silence told her more than she’d ever hear from him. For all his damn therapy, he just refused to learn how to exist in the world without a crutch. Maybe he was the one who should have done a stint at Betty Ford.

“I really like this guy, Frank. I really do. And we went into this relationship expecting it to crash and burn and it hasn’t yet and …” She trailed off, thinking of how gently Peter had undressed her this afternoon, how he’d coaxed her to the brink with only his words and the lightest of touches on her skin, how as they caught their breath after he’d told her the truth about that day when the Serbian border guard had held the gun to his head and how scared he’d really been. “I’m not saying I’ve found the one or anything, but I haven’t wanted to chase him away.”

“And you’re asking me not to screw it all up?”

“Yes.” She met his eyes. “I really like this guy and he likes me and if it’s going to crash and burn, I want it to be because he and I are stupid, not because my best friend is.”

Frank looked away and Murphy waited for whatever was spooling through his brain. “Why didn’t you tell me about him? When you two first got together. Why didn’t you tell me that it was happening? Even though you weren’t sure what it was? Why didn’t you tell me?”

The whine in Frank’s voice almost made her haul off and slug him. Instead, she sank into a chair and looked at him for a long time before answering. “Because how I was feeling about this guy didn’t make a damn bit of sense to me and I wasn’t about to let you into all of it and mix me up. You didn’t like him and you’d spend the months he was gone trying to convince me that he wasn’t worth my time.”

“You didn’t like him either, Murph. Or do I have to remind you of how you punched him before his first show?”

“Frank...” She sighed. “I did like him. I didn’t want to admit it, but I liked him. I still do. And I’d like for me to be the one to screw it up. Not you.” She knew she was repeating herself, but she didn’t care.

“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t have confided in me.” Frank was still whining. “You used to tell me everything. When did that change?”

Murphy leaned forward, it dawning on her that yes, he had known she liked Peter and yes, he’d tried to keep it from becoming a thing. This, right here, was where his issues were. It wasn’t about Peter. It was about being replaced.

“Frank, you remember the night of the Challenger explosion?”

He blinked but went along with it. “Yeah. We worked for like thirty-six hours straight trying to figure it all out. You didn’t eat anything that whole time, just drank. I think you went through a carton of cigarettes and at least two bottles of whiskey.”

“I won an Emmy for all of that, too.” She said. “Kicked some serious ass on it.” She sighed. “And you were so mad because Rockefeller asked to escort me. We had this grand time and you sulked through it because you wanted to be there next to me. I won the damn Emmy that night and you sulked because you weren’t my date.”

Frank shifted awkwardly. “But all that stuff you said about Peter …the photo on your dart board ….”

“You’re ignoring my point, Frank.”

“I’m your best friend. I should be there with you. Avery’s my Godson and he needs my stability, not some guy who comes and goes.”

“My best friend should want me to be happy. He shouldn’t be jealous because there are other people in my life.”

“You get jealous!”

Murphy stared at him. “You come in, always begging me to approve of these women for you. I say yes, and you stop dating them. I say no, you keep dating them. You don’t want my approval, you want to rebel against someone for it all while looking for someone who is going to take care of you.”

Frank sulked. Murphy pressed her fingers to her eyes. Maybe this conversation had been coming for a while. Maybe they’d been dancing around the surface of their friendship for a long time. Things had been different since she sobered up, and even more so since she’d had Avery.  
“I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell me about Peter.”

He was still stuck on that. Begging for attention. So she met Frank’s gaze. “You’d have talked me out of it. You’d have made me feel guilty and second guess my choices. You’d have put Avery into the middle of it, making me wonder if having someone who came and went was good. You’d have taken every single one of my own doubts and blown them up to a place where I couldn’t ignore them.” She shrugged. “Peter is arrogant and self-centered. But he’s also incredibly kind. Yeah, he pissed me off. But part of that was because … God,” she rolled her eyes. “I liked him.”

“I don’t handle it well when I’m not the only man in your life, Murph.”

Ahhh. Honesty. “Well,” she sighed and stood up. “Figure out how to handle it. You aren’t my husband and it’s time you stopped acting like you are.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could trust me …” Frank said, morose and cautious. She could tell he knew he’d lost this one, and possibly lost her. She just wasn’t in the mood for an apology she didn’t believe yet. An apology he hadn’t really given her.

Murphy grabbed her bag. “I still wasn’t sure what was going on and I didn’t want to talk to anyone about it until I knew what all of these feelings meant. I tell you that Peter and I have started a relationship and suddenly you and Corky will have me married off when I hadn’t even slept with the guy yet. I didn’t know how he’d react to my life. I’m a single mom. What if he took one look at my life with Avery in the morning and ran away? What happened when Avery interrupted us in bed together? What happened when I couldn’t make a date cause the kid is sick or the sitter didn’t show? I needed to figure myself out. To figure him out. I didn’t need … you.”

Frank winced. She didn’t care. She was too pissed at him and she wanted to get home to her guys. “How is he with all of it? Really?”

Murphy turned at the door and looked at her friend. “They’re two peas in a pod, Frank. Avery worships him and the feeling is mutual. Since the beginning, he’s helped with midnight terrors and he takes Avery to preschool and …”

Frank looked utterly crestfallen. She sighed, the reality of what this was really about clicking for her. It wasn’t about her. It was about Frank’s godson and the fear that Avery wouldn’t need him anymore. It was about a child they’d talked about having almost seven years ago, one she’d put off because of the idea that she might be able to have a child with a man she loved. The notion of what that meant now, with Peter, was too scary to process in the midst of her anger, but she’d found something she’d dreamed of. Frank was still searching. Despite her anger, she relented. “None of that changes how much Avery loves you. He’s allowed to have more than one man in his life.” She paused. “I am too. So think about that.”

“Murphy, I’m sorry about …”

She opened the door. “I wish you really were. You’re sorry because it melted down like this. You don’t think, Frank. And honestly, I’m tired of it. I’m not ready for your apology. And honestly, you need to deliver it to Peter and be ready because he needs to hear it, but I’m not sure he wants it. Not yet.”

She stepped out and closed the door behind her.

***

The knock on the door startled him and Peter stared at the door for a long minute, not trusting that there weren’t employees of the treasury department on the other side. Then, a voice only pissed him off. Murphy had warned him the other night that she’d told Frank he needed to apologize in person, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with it. He was tired of fighting the man for Murphy’s attention.

“Peter? I, uh, was hoping you were home.”

Groaning, Peter covered his notes and closed his laptop and made his way to the door, still hurting from where he’d been thrown against the wall. “What do you want, Frank?” He demanded as he answered.

“To apologize.”

Peter stared at the other man, not ready to hear the apology and knowing it was only coming because Murphy had yelled at him. “So?”

“I …” Frank shifted on his feet. “Really, I didn’t think it would be that bad.”

Peter was appalled. “You’re one of the best investigative reporters on the planet and you didn’t think that the secret service wouldn’t take a threat against the president seriously?! How dumb are you?”

“You really think I’m one of the best --”

Peter cut him off. “Frank! They threw me against the wall in front of Murphy and Avery. They were going to drag me away without anyone knowing. If Murphy hadn’t been here, I’d be in prison right now. Do you understand that? At all?”

“I --”

But he was on a roll now. “I can handle a prank as much as the next guy, but you hurt the two of them. You scared Avery. I’ve never heard him scream like that. You’re his damn godfather and you put him in a situation where he could be hurt. Where I could have just disappeared from his life. I would rather be stuck in a Chinese dissident prison than face what the United States system does to political prisoners. I wouldn’t be some reporter locked up for not revealing a source. I’d be lost in the system forever right now. And see, I think you were okay with that.”

Frank looked like he wanted to come in. Peter wouldn’t let him.

“Get used to me being around, Frank,” he growled. “Because I care about Murphy and I love Avery.” He chose his words carefully, dodging a feeling he still wasn’t sure how to express. “She gets to have more than one person in her life. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He said the word like a dog that had been whipped and the part of Peter that had wanted to go into the priesthood, the part that wanted to care for others, that part wanted to bring the other man in and talk out his insecurities. The part that had almost disappeared into a prison won out.

“We’ll talk more when my back stops hurting.” Peter closed the door and went back to his desk, sinking down into the chair.

He’d been so scared. He’d had guns held to his head and watched buildings across the way explode and in his life, he’d never been so scared. Avery’s scream still pierced his heart and when Robert had called Avery his son, he hadn’t thought twice.

What it all meant would have to be figured out later. Right now, he was still scared and pissed.

Peter reached for the beer he’d opened an hour ago and forgotten about.

Was it too early to be thinking like this?

When he forced himself to be introspective, he knew it was because there were a whole hell of a lot of feelings bubbling up that he’d wanted to repress because his history of leaving the right women was too real right now.

Murphy was the right woman. She was funny and smart and she brought out a side of him he’d always been worried to reveal. His childhood fantasy had been to escort his princess to the grand balls, to be there with her while they danced. And his blue collar father hit every single stereotype. Even being a journalist wasn’t “tough” enough. But there she was, for all the world a queen and he liked being her consort.

She wasn’t an easy woman to get to know. The wall around her was thick and covered in brambles, but the fact that he was still here said something to him. The fact that she trusted him with Avery said more than anything he did or didn’t know. He liked talking politics with her, loved debating media policy. They liked the same movies and the same restaurants and when she opened under him, their eyes always met.

And in the blink of an eye, it had almost been taken away.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

She was worth it. But, dealing with Frank …

That was another issue entirely.

***

It was a small gesture but one that Murphy and Peter had both allowed. So, he sat on the floor of Murphy’s townhouse helping Avery build with his Lincoln Logs while Peter and Murphy went out for dinner. Only a couple of hours, they said. And it was coming up on when they’d be home.

“Hey, Avery?” He asked the three year old, treading carefully. “How do you like Peter?”

His heart squeezed tightly as Avery’s eyes lit up. “Peter is da best!” He giggled. “He plays wit me and he gets me from school and I got a whole room at his house.”

“You like him a lot, huh?” Frank swallowed the nasty ball of jealousy that bubbled up. How had this guy who was barely around worked his way so well into Avery’s heart? How had Murphy allowed it? What happened to Avery when they split up because it would happen eventually. Murphy wasn’t known for long term commitment to anything except work.

“Yeah,” Avery was babbling. “An he makes mommy really happy.”

“How do you know?”

“Cause she smiles all da time around him and I hear her laughin and mommy and Peter play in her bedroom a lot.”

Frank choked a bit. “Really?”

Avery nodded and pulled a new log out of the box, connecting it to the pile he was making. He was quiet, building, and Frank watched him, waiting for the ask for help. Avery was every bit his mother and liked to do things by himself. “Unca Frank?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“Remember when Peter got dragged away by mean men?”

Frank stared at his godson. Avery was looking up at him, his blue eyes wide and still scared. “Yeah, kiddo, I do. Was it scary?”

Avery nodded. “Mommy cried. Peter too.”

“Did you cry?”

“Yeah.” He pushed at the pile of logs a bit and then reached for another one from the box. “Why did they do that?”

“What cry?”

“Take him.”

Frank paled. He reached for Avery and brought him into his lap, cuddling the little boy close. “You know, what they told me is that someone lied about Peter. They said he was gonna do bad things. But it was all a lie and they got it cleared up.”

“Why would they lie?”

“Well …” Frank kissed his head. “Because sometimes, people do really stupid things that hurt other people. Does that ever happen in your class?”

“One time Tommy pushed Sean and he hurt his knees and dey got all bloody.”

“Well, it’s like that. I’ll bet Tommy was sorry after he pushed Sean but sometimes, in the moment, people don’t think that pushing someone might hurt them. So you need to promise me that you will always think before you do something that could hurt someone, okay?”

“Okay!” Avery wiggled off Frank’s lap. “Can we watch Lion King?”

Frank checked the time, knowing that they’d be home soon, but also wanting to end the evening on a better note than this. “Sure, but you need to go get into your jammies and clean up your toys.”

Avery slouched his shoulders but didn’t argue - another trait he’d inherited from his mother - and climbed up the stairs to go put on his pjs. Frank followed, helping only when needed, and by the time the toys were cleaned up and the movie in the VCR, Avery was almost asleep. But he lay still, clutching a stuffed Simba and sucking his thumb. By the end of _I Just Can’t Wait to be King_ , he was out like a light.

Frank let the movie play and cleaned up the rest of the toys before moving to load the dishwasher. On the fridge was a photo of Peter and Avery. He could tell Murphy had taken it - her skill with the camera was so underrated. They were playing at the park and Peter was pushing Avery in the swings and they both looked so happy.

Reality was hitting. Hard. He had to get used to Peter.

What sucked was that he’d known since before Murphy and Peter ever met that if they did, they would be perfect for each other. He’d known when they laid eyes on each other. He’d just wanted to avoid it, wanted to pretend it couldn’t happen because if it happened, he wouldn’t have a place anymore. Where he came from, men and women weren’t best friends. They were lovers or haters and there was no in between and what he had with Murphy was so special.

What if Peter didn’t want her to have him in her life anymore? What if she put Peter first? What happened when Peter left and Frank had to pick up the pieces of a life he didn’t know anymore.

She’d been different since coming back from Betty Ford. Just different enough that he’d felt it, but not enough so that he needed to talk about it to anyone except his therapist. But what if she didn’t need him anymore?

Who was he then?

He heard the door open and raced to the living room to keep them from waking Avery. As he emerged, he saw Peter helping Murphy off with her jacket, watched their eyes meet, watched a kiss he knew he wasn’t supposed to see.

They were happy.

“Hey, Frank,” Murphy said quietly. On the TV, Simba was growing up. Avery stirred and rubbed his eyes. “Hi, buddy,” she kissed the top of his head. “Let’s go to bed.”

Avery whined and Frank watched Peter swoop in and gather him up. “Tell me all about your night,” he said. “Cause I bet it was so fun.” Avery wasn’t awake enough to, but buried his head in Peter’s neck as they walked up the stairs. Murphy folded the blanket on the couch and turned off the movie.

“How was he?”

“He’s still upset about that day …” Frank sighed. “Murph, I’m really sorry.”

She shrugged. “Do it again, and I’m getting you fired. Understood?”

There is was. The forgiveness he needed. Well, it was a start anyway.

“Yeah.” He glanced upstairs. “He hates me, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah,” she said. “But, it’s better than it was a few days ago. Give it time.”

“I get it,” he sighed. “And I really do want to start over and try to be friends.”

“One day at a time, Frank. Okay?” She stood up again. “Thanks for watching Avery. It was a big help. We needed a night out.”

Frank understood a dismissal when he heard it. Murphy wanted to lock the door and go upstairs and finish her night and this small step was all he could get right now. Peter had barely glanced at him. But, Murphy was right. One day at a time. So he nodded and grabbed his jacket. “Anytime you need me …”

“I know.”

The smile in her eyes told him she was getting over it and he could breathe a bit easier. He also couldn’t help but wonder what bit of revenge she was cooking up.

Didn’t matter.

He grabbed his keys and headed out the door, hearing the latch click behind him. On the street, he looked up to see the lights to Avery’s room go out and the ones for Murphy’s room click on. The curtains were open and he watched Murphy walk over to close them and saw Peter behind her, shaking his head at something. She was laughing.

Then the curtains closed.

Frank took a breath and, one step at a time, walked back to his car.


End file.
